For the first time in 11 years, Ole Miss won at Humphrey Coliseum. The Rebels overcome an early 25-12 deficit and held on for their second straight win against a division leader (they beat Kentucky on Tuesday). Terrico White scored 18 for Ole Miss (12-9, 3-4 SEC); Ravern Johnson led State (14-7, 4-2) with 20, but 15 of those came before halftime.
Two key players were missing for MSU: Elgin Bailey and Brian Johnson, both of whom were suspended for the game for missing curfew. When asked if the suspension would be longer than one game, coach Rick Stansbury said, “I’ll make the decision.” He didn’t say when he’d make it.
The absence of those two crippled MSU’s inside game. Center Jarvis Varnado, who played 33 minutes, scored just 8 points on 2-of-5 shooting. He was spent after chasing his man around; Ole Miss did a good job screening and moving the ball. “I thought Jarvis really got worn out,” Stansbury said.
MSU shot 31.5 percent from the field, including 29.0 percent (9-31) from 3-point range. Ole Miss hit 41.4 percent of its shots, 36.0 from downtown. Four players scored in double figures for Ole Miss.
Some quotes now, starting with Stansbury:
• On losing the rebounding battle, 42-33: “They won the war of us playing small and them playing big. Phil Turner didn’t have one of his better days.”
• On shot selection: “I really think that once Ole Miss got the lead, I thought we pressed a little bit. I thought we tensed up and tried to get it back too quick, too soon.”
• On PG Dee Bost (13 points): “You want him attacking that zone, sometimes he’ll make some, sometimes he won’t. We probably wish he’d attacked it more than he did.”
Ravern Johnson:
• On his second-half struggles: “They play zone the first half, I knock down a lot of shots. Second half, they stretch the zone our more toward me, they’re not doubling down, they’re not helping off.”
Varnado:
• On his game: “They packed the zone in, focusing on me. I’ve just got to find other ways to score, get it off the glass.”
Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy:
• On guard play: “We were hopeful we could get the lead and make them play from behind. They’ve got young guards as well. Dee Bost, it’s his first time through this league. We wanted to make them make some decisions with the ball.”
• Overcoming the early deficit: “We’ve been in big holes before, unfortunately, we’re pretty experienced about falling behind early. I’m glad to see we’re learning some lessons from that.”
• On Rebels’ inside game: “We have got to be the aggressor, we’ve got to grind them out, and today was an example of that.”
